Wisniewski, Harbaugh on the passing of Chester McGlockton

I used a lot of this in my obit on Chester McGlockton, but here is the complete transcript of Raiders assistant offensive line coach and former teammate Steve Wisniewski:

“It’s just a tragic loss. Chester was a dear friend, a teammate, a neighbor, a golf buddy, we coached together at Stanford. For people who don’t know, he had such a big, big heart. He did a phenomenal job over at Stanford coaching. He was really kind of putting his life back on a new track in the coaching field and he was just fabulous at it. So, our whole heart, my heart and the heart of the Raiders family goes out to his wife Zina and his two young girls. It’s just really sad to see.”

“I can’t guess at the cause of death for Chester, but he had lost a good bit of weight. We had done walks together, we played racquetball together quite a bit the last year, he was in very good shape for being a big man. It’s just an absolutely tragic loss to the whole Raiders family.”

Wisniewski didn’t see any signs of this coming on:

“No, absolutely not. I spoke to Chester yesterday, as a matter of fact. He had a great day with his girls and was looking forward to kind of a few slow weeks as Stanford prepares for a bowl (game), so he could have some more family time. Anybody who knows Chester, he loved his wife and girls to the moon. Again, I just can’t express how tragic it is lose someone like that at 42.”

On how good McGlockton was as a player:

“There was no one in the NFL who could block Chester if he didn’t want to be blocked. He had that ability to be a dominant force like a Mean Joe Greene. He was as good as they come. We talked a lot about it. He matured in his years beyond football and looked back with a sense that he could have done more at times. He was hampered by injuries and contract issues. But when he wanted to play, no one could block him.”

On McGlockton’s love of coaching at Stanford:

“I was just so proud of him because, here in these last few years, he really found something he enjoyed. He was really passionate about coaching. I used to even tease him, if the kids could have seen him back when he was a player, they would laugh because he was now chasing them up and down the field, screaming to ‘hustle,’ do extra and give their best effort. He was a phenomenal coach and a great man.”

Wisniewski played racquetball with McGlockton and San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh, who had this to say about his friend:

“Chester was a good guy, doing the right things, great husband to Zena and his children. We’re just saddened by that. He was helping a lot of people. We are really going to miss him.

“He had already blossomed. He was so positive with the players and the other coaches. He always had coaching advice or spiritual advice. He was my racquet partner when I was over at Stanford, just a positive huge presence when he was over at Stanford. The month that he was here, he’d been to three games of ours here. Just a dear friend I loved him.

“You had to make sure he had your goggles. You were fighting for survival with him on the racquet ball court.”